Hi from ?

You will never guess where we have been for the last 10 days.

Here is another clue.

Still having trouble?

I am sure by now you you have got it.

But just to be sure;

We spent 10 wonderful days is the Arsenal Marina in the middle of Paris. It is only 500 mtrs Notre Dame and just below the Place de Bastille. A great central location with Metro stations at both ends. We bought a 5 day unlimited travel pass for bus and Metro and really got full value from it.

Apart from having a hectic social life; lots of drinks and nibbles with folk we met other years and new ones from this year, we also ventured out 2-3 times a day to see the sights as well explore areas that are not so well know.

We even got the bikes out and tackled Paris traffic. There are 1500km of cycle tracks though the city but they have a habit of just evaporated at times, especially at places where it became too hard for the planners- the Arch de Triumph for example. Luckily there are hundreds of bikes and most of the drivers seem to be reasonably rider aware, however it did make life interesting at times.

Last year we stayed a few days in Paris in a hotel but found the boat so much better – more like have a small apartment with all home comforts and a great outlook.. The Arsenal has pleasant gardens and there is always a passing parade of interesting people. (the gardens are shut to all but boat owners at 11pm) To return home for lunch or diner on the back deck is so much nicer than returning to a small hotel room hotel room with limited outlook and very limited facilities.

We did very little “must see” sightseeing but as can be seen from the photos we did stumble across quite a few of them. We did however go to the Musse d'Orsay and spent nearly four hours in the Impressionists section of the gallery. It was very rewarding afternoon and the gallery, an old railway station, was truly magnificent. (Lousy cafe – 40 mins to get a coffee and basically no dunnies, but that's France) Anyway many of these famous artists had even painted pictures of places we have been, so I have include a photo of my original and their copy of it.

The Canal Saint Martin.

Boats on the banks of the Seine.

Work boats on the upper Seine

Pleasure boats on the Seine.

Reclining Nudes by Monet.

Well Lynda is reclining and she is in a gallery (the Louvre no less).– 2 out of 3 ain't bad

Lynda has changed her mind about the redesign of our bedroom – it's Art Nouveau now not high Renaissance.

Dr. Ghalet, Vincent van Gogh's homeopath.

My homeopath.

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